Ada meets Myrnin
by kingsandqueens10
Summary: What it says in the title, Ada's first encounter with Myrnin
1. Chapter 1

Ada raised her voice to speak out to the crowd of Londoners swarming around her, stepping up to the edge of the wooden platform to be seen. The sure, confident words of her speech flowed through her lips and awed the onlookers as she pleaded, encouraged and sold them her stories and discoveries.

She glanced to her right as the crowd grew even more, by far the biggest crowd they had had yet, sharing an excited little smile with Belle, watching on from the other edge of the platform. Belle was stood up tall, showing confidence and elegance, her topaz dress synching in her tiny waist and flowing in ruffles around her ankles. The colour worked perfectly with her bright blond hair, curled partially into a neat bun at the back of her head with a few wispy ringlets falling to her cheek bones and drawing attention to her bright blue eyes.

She turned back from her sweet friend and continued to speak to the crowd. She was determined to make this the best speech so far, a crowd this size would mean so much more than all of their others put together, she had to make it count.

Her confidence was growing with every being that joined them, her voice grew louder as the crowd grew bigger, her hypnotising words were drifting through the streets, luring in person after person. She was just about to allow Belle to say her part when her words caught in her throat, her voice stuttering and breath catching.

There was a man.

Only this man was like no other. The more Ada stared at him, the more differences she could make out; his deathly pale skin, the unnerving sense of _age, _the strange way his gaze calculated everything. She found him terrifying, but she also found him _beautiful_.

Her gaze was locked onto his face, just as her voice was locked in her throat. She noticed Belle tottering up to her in her peripheral vision, her eyes wide with confusion as she hissed at her under her breath.

"Ada! What do you think you are doing? Is there a problem? Are you unwell?"

Ada shook her head slowly, entranced by the stranger before her.

"Well then for the love of God stop being such a daft fool and speak! We are losing the crowd Ada! What are you doing?"

Belle's panicked voice rang through Ada's ears yet somehow she couldn't hear her. The rest of her ranting blurred into the babble of the confused crowd, meaningless to Ada.

The man in the crowd stood still between two raucous women, his midnight black hair curling over his ears, cropped to just above his jaw and matching his ebony eyes. His expression was empty, showing no emotion at all as Ada stared at him. He was tall, easily spotted in the crowd of slouching workers.

Ada's expression grew from awe to suspicion and confusion as her brain began to work again, her eyes growing wide and her breath coming quicker. The man continued to look back at her, before a sleek, dark smile curved his full lips, revealing ghosts of dimples and making him look slightly mischievous. He turned away from her, weaving his way through the shrieking crowd, meandering to the edge before disappearing completely.

Ada's breath hitched as soon as he was gone, only one thought filling her mind.

_I have to follow him._

She looked back to Belle, who was hysterically attempting to calm the people before them, shrieking to talk over the shouts and bawls of the men and women. Ada rushed up to her and grabbed her arm, drawing her full attention to her without having to strain her voice.

Belle's startled eyes met hers and showed no relief that Ada was finally out of her trance, no doubt because of Ada's expression.

"I'm sorry, I have to leave." Ada immediately let go of her arm and bounded across and over the platform, hitching up her crimson dress in a failed attempt to protect it from the mud and rotten food on the floor. She only just managed to hear a helpless cry for her to come back from Belle, yet she was too determined to find the man to feel guilty. She heaved past leering men and screeching women, giggling children and bawling babies until she pushed to the edge of the crowd, right in front of the street he disappeared down.

Her heeled shoes were caked in mud and the hem of her dress dragged on the floor yet she still jogged forwards, much faster than what was considered lady like. The street took an abrupt turn and suddenly it became deathly quiet, not person in sight except one man, walking with his back to her.

He was wearing a long dark coat that billowed around him and dark trousers, his hair curled to the back of his neck and he appeared to have his hands casually in his pockets .

"What are you?" Ada demanded. She didn't bother with being polite, she was already covered in dirt with strands falling from her now messy bun and breathing heavily, manners wouldn't matter now.

The man stopped and turned slowly, his wide eyes locked with hers as he paused side on to Ada, his head turned to look at her. He was wearing a plain white shirt with a dark red waistcoat under his long, black coat, matching the colour of Ada's dress. Ada was a lot closer to him now and she noticed that his skin was flawless, his features sharp and alluring and his posture straight and tall. He held his shoulders back, with no hint of a slouch and his manner was like no other man living in London. He definitely wasn't a worker.

"Excuse me?" His voice was deep and smooth, it echoed through the empty street and sent shivers deep within Ada.

_He's a demon, no other man has had that affect on me, _Ada thought. Her mother had introduced man after man to be her husband, yet none had sparked any interest within Ada. She was now twenty one and her mother had given up finding her a fiancée after more than 50 failed attempts. It wasn't that she thought they weren't good enough for her, there were definitely some handsome men, she just thought their lack of knowledge and interest in science to be unappealing.

Yet the man in front of her was nothing like the men her mother had introduced to her, instead he was like the men her father wrote about. The ones that killed and seduced in order to live.

Her hands trembled and her brain screamed at her to leave yet she still spoke with the same confidence she had with the crowd, "What are you?"

The man breathed out a humourless laugh and smiled as if she were telling a bad joke. He stepped around to face her full on and looked around in confusion. "I'm terribly sorry but I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about."

Ada stared at him with undying determination. "You are not human. You are far from it, I can see past your façade. Do not try to pretend you are and do not play games with me. I am far stronger than I look." Ada never broke eye contact with him and finally he reacted.

His expression was light and slightly joking, an edge of confusion fuelling the unsure smile that played on his lips, yet as soon as she spoke it all dropped completely. It was such a sudden change of expression Ada felt a twinge of fear in her stomach. The almost happy expression turned dark, his smile completely vanished, his joking eyes turned a flat black, like dark holes burning into Ada as he stared with lowered lids back at her. His whole expression was suddenly unamused and wicked.

Ada felt an overwhelming urge to step back, yet she didn't. She held her ground as he casually edged forwards, his movements lazy yet his expression that of a hunter.

"You say I am not human, what else could I possibly be?"

Ada shook her head and remained strong, showing no cracks in her façade. "Something dark. You're dangerous."

"And what of it?"

Ada stood tense and still as he got closer, ambling around her lazily. "I demand to know what you are."

He laughed silkily, the deep harmonics causing shivers to run throughout her body. They weren't cold shivers, like the type you would get when you read a horror story, they were warm, secretive…pleasurable.

"Such a loud bark yet no bite. Dear lady, I suggest you leave and forget that we encountered before I am forced to make you. After all, it'd be much easier, for both you and I, if you would go without causing a fuss, I lose my temper a lot more easily these days." His expression suddenly changed for a split second, his eyes turning curious as he pondered over his last words, he was intrigued by the fact that he lost his temper more easily now, which only made Ada even more interested in knowing about him, knowing _him_.

"I will only go once you tell me what you are."

He stopped in front of her, looking down with a slightly less cruel expression and more of a curious one. He cocked his head to the side slightly and she could see him calculating in his mind. Ada's mind ached to know what he was thinking, what was churning through that mysterious mind of his.

"So determined you are to know what most run from with terror. How interesting."

His voice was still deep, yet the dark edge was gone, replaced by a burning curiosity. A small groove worked its way between his eyebrows and all traces of the hunter left his face, leaving a young, handsome man who was very intrigued about the girl in front of him.

He didn't say anything for a while and Ada almost had to squirm under his dark gaze, she wanted to move or at least do something to eliminate that fierce concentration in his eyes that bore into her. "I'm not afraid. Tell me."

A slight hint of friendliness entered his eyes as he spoke, "I can see you're not. Yet once I tell you you will be."

Ada put on her best stubborn expression, the same one she would use when she would tell her mother she didn't like the man she found for her, and stared straight at him. "My father writes about beings that look like you. Beings that stalk the darkness, searching for death. People believe he is insane, yet now I know he is not insane, he is correct. At least about part of it anyway."

The man raised his eyebrows questioningly, "oh? And what does your father believe I am?"

Ada took a nervous breath, "he calls you vampires."

A strange hint of delight flashed through the man's eyes and he smiled, showing neat rows of pearly white teeth, none of the fangs that her father described. For a panicked second Ada thought she was wrong, that she had got it all horribly wrong, until he began to talk.

"Your father is more correct than you think. I am a vampire."

Ada felt no fear. No overwhelming panic and urge to run. She just felt curiosity, and a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that fluttered whenever he smiled at her.

He gazed at her with soft, warm eyes for a silent while, no hint of the lazy hunter was left from before. It was almost like he had a different personality, and Ada liked this one a lot more.

"You aren't scared are you? You were right. I think I like you," he said fondly, a smile on his lips and in his eyes.

Ada couldn't help but smile back, her pretty face lit up as she gazed at him. She certainly wasn't scared, she wanted to know more about him, she bound him interesting and…alluring. He licked his lips and readied himself to move.

"Please excuse my manners, but I would just like to try something."

With that he leant down and kissed her.

**Hope you like it! Please read and review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thankyou for the reviews and sorry for the late update :S I was deciding whether to keep it a oneshot or write more and I decided to go with the latter :D xxx**

Ada traipsed up the grassy hill on the way back to her home. It was now almost twilight, the pale sunset washing out the world and making it near impossible for her to avoid the mud puddles littering the field.

She made a feral sound of annoyance as her skirts slipped from her hands and once again dragged across the dirty ground, which had now coated the whole dress in speckles and patches. She hated to think what her mother would think if she saw the state of her now, instead she began to think about what had happened. Since her terrifying yet intriguing encounter with the man in the crowd earlier that day, she had been in a disastrous mood; although it was more what happened after the encounter that made Ada's day so sour.

She could still taste his lips lingering on hers, the softness, the curiosity…the danger. All the while his mouth was pressed to hers Ada could hardly think, her mind was shrouded by what was happening, by the intense sensation overwhelming her whole body, yet as soon as they broke apart her brain began to reel and she began to think. _She had been inches away from his teeth…his fangs. _Her breath still caught in her throat as she thought about what he had done with that mouth, how many other woman he had kissed, how many people he had killed…

Ada remembered slowly opening her eyes, expecting to find the handsome face, chiselled features, coal black hair, yet al she found was an empty street, the whispers of a soft laugh lingering in the air. Confusion took over her as she spun around, searching for him, and all she came across was the reason for his disappearance. Belle.

She stood next to the building Ada had run past to find the man, her hair left in muddy straggles and her dress spattered with what she hoped to have been mud. She looked just about as dishevelled as Ada was, only a lot more graceful, and much more angry. From the furious expression plastered on her face, Ada suspected that she hadn't noticed the strange man that, just moments ago, had been locked on to her lips, taking away what her mother would call her 'purity'.

"What do you think you are doing Ada?" The words burst out of her mouth so suddenly Ada jumped, releasing even more strands from her hair. She fiddled with the loose locks and tucked them uselessly back into her bun, which was now too far gone to save, and smoothed the front of her dress down - an unfortunate habit she had picked up from her mother.

"I don't know what you mean Belle."

The fury erupted from her then, flaring in her eyes and the evil grimace that pulled her lips over her teeth. _Teeth_… _fangs. _Ada shook the thought away and concentrated on the harsh words she was spitting at her.

"You deserted me! You deserted me in front of a crowd Ada! How dare you!"

"I - "

"You are insane! I cannot work with a madman! I'm sorry but I'm leaving. And I'm not talking to a crowd again. Goodbye Ada."

She spun around, her dress flowing and brushing through the filth on the street, and rushed off.

Ada huffed and turned the other way, looking for the man again but coming up blank. She didn't need Belle, she hadn't even been that good at speaking either, it was her looks that brought in the men, and once they noticed her arrogance they would soon ignore her and focus solely on Ada. If only she had someone else to attract the audience with looks…

A rock suddenly caught the toe of her boot as her mind was elsewhere and she tumbled forwards, her flailing steps catching on her skirts as she felt the hard impact of the ground. Her breath was knocked out of her and her ribs throbbed from the ground so she lay there, heaving and growling with pain and the memory of Belle abandoning her like she had before her.

"Idiot," she hissed, partially at herself but also at Belle.

"Now that wasn't very nice."

Ada twisted around on the floor, sitting up abruptly to face the source of the unexpected voice and wincing at the abrupt pain. Black hair, black eyes, pale skin, beautiful.

He was smiling at her, almost mocking her not so graceful fall as he stared into her eyes, mere centimetres from her face. Ada's breath caught in her throat with the proximity. She wanted to touch his skin, to comb her fingers through his hair, to kiss his lips, but she also wanted to push him away, run back to her home and cry the memories of the day away. She decided, since her ribs wasn't in the best shape to get out of breath in the corset, that she preferred the first option.

"What are you doing here?" She rushed through the words, tripping over them in her haste to get them out, her shock and fluttering heartbeat causing her speech to tremor.

His smile sobered, his expression becoming calm and innocent instead of mischievous and cocky. "Why, I am helping a hurt, helpless young lady who seems to have had a terribly rough day," he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear distractedly, "hmmm."

All Ada could do was stare into his wandering eyes and attempt to get her senses and wit back as he trailed his feathery touch lightly over the cold skin behind her ear. She finally managed to talk through the shock of the contact. "Don't touch me."

He froze in place, staring at her before lowering his gaze, "I'm sorry, I cant stop my mind from wandering and my body from following its orders. I apologise if I get…distracted." His gaze fell down to her torso where it was fluttering rapidly, trying to get tortured breaths past the corset and stabbing pain in her rib. Ada's eyes grew wide as she thought that he was staring at her chest, but after her anger and shock subsided she realised he was looking further down, just where her ribs were aching.

"You cant breathe properly," he observed, his hands absently moving to her ribcage before hesitating, "…may I…?" He asked, looking up at her for her answer. Ada nodded her head, flustered, and tried to calm her breathing as his hand continued forwards, a small crease forming between his brows.

Ada laughed nervously as he examined and probed her ribs, "silly outfits." He glanced up at her again, unamused, and brought his attention back to her injury.

"Are you able to return home? Your breathing will become easier once you take your corset off." Ada felt herself go red, the blush not helping her already flustered state as she struggled for breath.

"I- I'm not certain- I-"

"Not to worry, I can help. You are lucky I am here, without me you would be back before dawn," he shook his head and wound his arm behind Ada's shoulder blades, holding her hand in his other and easing her up, striking pain in her ribs that Ada weakly tried to conceal. A breathless moan left her lips and the man muttered an apology, pulling her up straight and holding her waist to steady her. "Although, without me you also wouldn't be here." Ada ignored him and concentrated on easing the pain, a string of groans escaping her mouth again.

"It really would relieve the pain if you would loosen your corset."

Ada stared up at him, pulling her skirts up to at least look slightly more presentable, and hardened her expression, attempting to look stronger. "I'm fine," she purred, and turned away, stalking away whilst wincing and gasping in silence. She heard him sigh behind her as she walked and felt his arms closing around her, swooping her up as he briskly walked about three times as fast as Ada could hobble. "Put me down!" she protested, yet clutched his arm and coat lapel, terrified of him letting go and her plunging to the ground for a second time.

Instead he just smirked and carried on, staring forwards at the large house emerging from behind a hill half a mile away. "Did you hear me?" He ignored her once again and decided to answer a question she hadn't asked.

"My name is Myrnin. Please take that as a hint to tell me yours, I would definitely like to know."

Ada stared at his eyes steadily as he stared forwards, finally meeting hers before she turned away, disbelief clear on her face. Not once in her life had she met a man as brash as the one carrying her. Yet she also found his brashness charming, and to her surprise she answered.

"Ada."

"Noble and kind," he said absently.

"Excuse me?"

"That is the meaning of your name. Noble, kind," He turned a sweet smile on her, "I suppose so far you have lived up to your names meaning."

Ada felt the blush returning once again and she heard him chuckle softly. "I don't suppose your name means anything?"

"Oh, no. My name id far too old to have a meaning, and far to old to be remembered."

Ada let her mind whir with the possibilities of his age. From his appearance he only looked 2 or 3 years older than Ada, yet looks could be deceiving. My father hadn't written anything about the age of his vampires, yet this was the real world and most humans were terribly unobservant. Ada looked up to the large house looming above them. It was a lot closer than Ada expected and she began to panic about her mother seeing her in the arms of a tall, dark stranger.

"We should keep our voices down, no doubt my mother will go spare once she sees the state of me…and you."

Before Myrnin could reply Ada heard a whisper from the side of the house. Myrnin turned with her in his arms and revealed a dainty blonde girl in a maids outfit gesturing for them to join her.

"Anna! What are you doing outside at this time?"

"Saving you from your mother! Hurry, you can come through the servants quarters, Marie is filling the bath as we speak and we can clean your dress by tomorrow."

"Very loyal maid," Myrnin muttered as they followed Anna behind the house and through the trees.

Ada brushed the drying mud off her dress, attempting to help her maids she had grown to love. "They aren't my maids. They are my friends."

"Like the friend that interrupted my abrupt act of rudeness in the street earlier today?"

Ada tried to ignore the fluttering feeling in her stomach as the memory triggered in her brain, "She has decided to no longer be my friend."

All Myrnin did was raise his eyebrows and say quietly, "I suppose that's her loss then." He let go of her gently as he reached the door to the servants quarters, Anna helping with her small, childlike hands. "Do make sure my lady is relieved of her corset, she's hurt and that will help, as well as rest of course."

"Yes, sir. Thank you for helping my lady, sir."

"You're welcome. Sleep well, and heal Ada." With that he kissed her hand gently, directed a polite smile briefly at Anna and turned to go, almost disappearing completely into the sheet of darkness.

"Quick, we should go before your mother hears us." Anna directed her through the tight corridors of the servants quarters and checked for any signs of her mother before hurrying her (painfully) up the stairs to her room. "Who was that man, may I ask?" Anna questioned, after they were out of any earshot.

"He said his name was Myrnin. He helped me after I fell." Ada gasped out as Anna removed her dress and tried to unlace her corset gently.

"He was terribly handsome."

Ada turned to meet Anna's gaze and smiled, "I know," she said, and hesitated before adding, "he kissed me."

**Please read and review! xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm so sorry I haven't updated in ages D: things are just being annoying so yeah…enjoy!**

Sleeping was terribly painful that night.

After gasping and lip biting through the pain of Anna removing her corset Ada had dipped in the bath, almost adding burns to the growing list of injuries on her body. She glanced in the mirror afterwards, grimacing at the glowing red skin and blotchy bruise on the side of her ribs the size of her hand, not the pretty sight her Mother insisted and trained her to be in order to get a husband. Ada could hardly stand even the word 'husband' anymore, after enduring visits more painful than her bruise from monotonous old men with graying hair and drab rich men with bushy moustaches she had grown sour to the idea of marriage, perfectly content with being a single, independent woman...

Until she thought about not being single, about being in a relationship with the dark stranger. Myrnin. She shivered under the thick sheets and quilts of her four post bed and tried to blame it on the breeze from the cracks in the floorboards but she knew that wasn't the real reason she shivered.

'Stop it Ada. Don't fool yourself. You are a scientist, not a pathetic romantic like that Shakespeare imbecile. Pull yourself together,' she hissed to herself, twisting over and then groaning loudly, forgetting, once again, that the bruise covering her rib cage hadn't disappeared yet. A painful sigh erupted from deep within her chest and her eyes fluttered closed, attempting to force herself to sleep with darkness. Before she knew it, her method had worked and a blanket of peaceful sleep smothered her until the bright hours of morning and the raucous, unusually happy wittering of her mother pulled her out of it.

'Ada! I have a surpriiiiise for youuu! Oooo you will just adore this! Now don't open your eyes yet my de- oh Anna, do open the drapes, the darkness is straining my eyes!' She bustled in, her rather plump size taking up a large proportion of the room at the end of Ada's bed and her bubbly voice never ending in her excitement. Ada tried to ease herself out of her bed without drawing the attention of her mother to her monstrous bruise, yet she was busy flitting about with corsets and dresses, dragging them out of boxes and clapping her hands as she looked at them. 'Oh aren't they just exquisite! I picked them out for you and your Father bought them, I was sure you'd love them, I saw them and I just said, I said 'Charles,' I said 'these are perfect,' I said. He just looked at me and said 'are you positive?' I said 'yes' I said...' Once again Ada's mother rattled on, repeating 'I said' too many times to count- another annoying habit of hers- whilst Ada observed the dresses.

The only one that looked remotely like something Ada would choose was a dusty blue, with a long voluptuous skirt, a detailed bodice and cream lace lining the neckline and edges of the three quarter length sleeves. The rest were frilly, ruffled pink ones, definitely not what Ada liked, despite her mother's insistent rambling about how much she knew she would love them. Her Mother had never really payed attention to what Ada liked, only expected her to like the same things as herself, which certainly wasn't the case. Her father -Charles- on the other hand, tended to have more perception of his daughter's preferences, and no doubt he attempted to avert her mother's attention to something more appealing to Ada; but Ada's mother was very stubborn.

'ANNA!' Her mother's blasting shriek made Ada jump and twirl to find her mother waddling towards her, hustling her over to her dividing board where she would presumably get changed. 'Where is that blasted girl? ANNA! Get here now child! Ada needs her corset laced!'

A rattled looking Anna clicked open the door and hurried in, sending Ada an exasperated glance as she grabbed the corset from a discarded box. Ada felt sorry for Anna, mainly because of her plenty of household jobs piling up, but also because of having to stay under the same roof as her mother. Despite the sympathy, Ada was secretly glad Anna was the one lacing her corset and not her Mother, who laced corsets like she was anchoring a boat and would have probably made her bruise ten times as bad.

Ada braced herself against her chest of drawers as Anna tried to gently tighten the strings of the corset, patting her bare shoulder in an apology for the jolts.

'Tell me again Mother, what these are for?' Ada asked, between gasps and grunts.

'Oh silly child, you do not know? For getting you a husband of course! As you well know, we are venturing into the heart of London today. I'm sure you would quite enjoy it there, although the streets are filthy and peasants everywhere.' She grimaced, disgusted at the thought of people. 'No matter, we would only be driving through, and then on to Oxford where we shall meet a rich young Lady whom lives in her late Father's palace. A beautiful girl, with impeccable manners, i'm sure you would get on very well. Anyway, I thought perhaps she would be able to teach manners to you, to make you more...appealing to any future husbands you may encounter.'

Ada rolled her eyes at her Mothers continuous wittering and inwardly moaned about the day ahead. She hated searching for husbands. She hated the way they would assess her like an animal being sold at market. She hated how they would look down on everyone like they were dirt. She hated men who would believe compliments and false charm would make her fall for them. She hated men in general; except her father, and...no. She wouldn't allow her mind to keep wandering back to him. It was too dangerous.

'Do hurry dear, our carriage will arrive in no more than a half hour!' with that Ada's mother scurried off, muttering to herself about looking presentable and remembering to use powder.

Ada sucked in a sharp breath as Anna finished the lacing and returned a tight smile for Anna's sympathetic one, trying to shimmy into the dress, with the help of her maid, and tame her hair at the same time, which was more of a problem than she expected.

'Oh! posture child! Really! Have you listened to nothing I have taught you?' Ada ignored her mother's comments and stared out of the window at the bustling streets of London, which just yesterday she had been stood in talking to a crowd - that, thankfully, her Mother hadn't found out about, yet she had her suspicions of her Father.

'How long until we get there Mother?' Ada asked absently, picking at her nails (yet another habit caused by the presence of her Mother), fiddling with her hair and watching as the buildings thinned and grass took their place.

'Don't do that!' her mother exclaimed, batting at her hands to slap them away from her elegant ringlets. Her hair was partially clipped back at the top under a small decorative bonnet, the rest fell over her bare shoulders in loose curls, meeting with the dress at her chest. 'Really! People would think you were raised by a pack of wolves!' she tutted, ignoring the question and instead fiddling with her graying hair just as she had told Ada not to.

Ada sighed and tried not to wince too noticeably at the sharp shock of the corset against damaged skin, instead just holding her breath and counting the seconds until she could take another before passing out. It took 43 breaths to get to the 'palace'- Ada thought of it more as a large, arrogant castle than a palace- and she climbed out of the small carriage onto a gravel entrance, the huge marble doorway towering so far above she had to hold her bonnet in place to stare up. A pretty blond girl was stood by the large double doors, smiling politely (if slightly uncomfortably) at the guests.

She reminded Ada of Belle, her long golden hair and dainty, elegant figure, stuffed into a showy cream dress with the kind of lace and beading her mother had chosen for Ada's other dresses. She stepped down to greet them, looking friendly and welcoming.

'Welcome to my home...Miss...Ada...is it? I'm sure you will have a lovely time. I am Amelie, the owner of this house and I will show you around, it is quite large so may take a while, I'm afraid. Then I shall teach you of manners, as your Mother so kindly asked.' Amelie directed the pretty smile at her Mother, who fluttered a dismissive hand and curtseyed, while giggling like a pathetic child. She had always been a sucker for compliments.

The delicate blond turned and directed a graceful hand at the open doors of the palace. They traipsed inside, Ada dragging her heavier-than-usual dress behind her over the uneven gravel and up the steep steps to the entrance. The hall opened up before them, the walls a dark cream and covered in regal paintings of ancestors and relations, all in posh clothes of silk and pearls, the ceiling was high and decorated with swirls and murals of Greek goddesses and cherubs. grand staircases curved from each side of the hall to a balcony, which was part of the second floor, and littered with stone busts of women and men placed neatly in the corners and along the far wall. Ada was in awe, it was so much grander than their household, and the sense of royalty never left as they glided to the left staircase and climbed up to the second floor, which was lined with lush red carpets.

'Oh Ada! Look at this! Oh and this! Ohhh isn't it lovely dear? Your father would love this! I've always said to him, I've said 'Charles, we have the money for it, we shall get a larger home one day' but what does he go and do? He spends his money on unneeded butlers and cigars. I tell you child, we would be royalty if he wouldn't buy all those cigars you know...' Ada sighed and sped up her pace, catching up with Amelie, who was giving a silent tour around the first few rooms, and leaving her Mother to mumble to herself about money. Honestly, Ada had no interest in the stuff.

Amelie greeted her with a dainty smile and asked softly, 'how are you finding my home?' Ada had always been good at lying only in times of desperation, so she decided not to bother trying and answered truthfully, which would have earned a slap from her Mother had she heard. 'I think it's lovely, however it's very large, almost too large. I would describe it more as a house than a home, it feels too informal to be a home, there's no comfort in it.'

Amelie didn't react. She didn't shout, she didn't frown, she didn't banish them from ever returning. Instead she smiled sweetly.

'You remind me of a friend. He isn't fond of my home either, although he has put up with being here for some time; you shall meet him soon enough, once we get to his quarters.' Amelie directed Ada through even grander doors than the entrance and it opened up to a hall meant (presumably) for dancing. 'Tell me Ada, what are your interests?'

Ada frowned, 'my interests?' She didn't know she had any interests, except in talking to crowds about her findings, about mechanics and the science of the world. 'Mechanics, I suppose. I usually find interest in the things females are not associated with. Knowledge, for instance. Knowledge is for men, not women, yet I am very interested in it; that's why my mother fins me so difficult.'

All Amelie did was smile again.

She didn't talk for the rest of the tour of the house. Ada thought she might have offended her, yet why would she have smiled if she had been offended? Worry ebbed away inside her until Amelie finally spoke again, causing relief to flow through her at the fact that she wasn't annoyed with her.

'This, I think you may enjoy. After you.' Amelie gestured at the hall in front of her and nudged Ada's elbow in encouragement. 'The third door on the right, and be careful to watch your step once you enter. He has no understanding of neatness.'

Ada glanced back at her Mother, who was following behind her now, smoothing her skirt at the mention of any man being present and gesturing for her to do the same. Ada ignored her and started forward, counting the doors as they passed, they were quite far apart and she managed to catch her mother's conversation before she reached the third.

'So, Miss Amelie. This man, is he a servant of yours?' she said with distaste.

'No, he is just a good friend. I have known him for a long time and expect to know him for longer, I believe you would find him quite interesting, your daughter especially.'

Ada grasped the intricate gold handle of the door and pushed it open, revealing a wall. She peered in and noticed the passage led to the left, then to a closed doorway on the right, which she followed quietly whilst her Mother and Amelie pursued. A small, gold key was poking out of the door, which Ada turned with a click, and pushed open into a large, clustered room with a warm glow emanating from it. There was so much to take in at once her eyes couldn't comprehend, so she focused on the thing they could. A man was stood at one of the many tables in the room, stooped over a large piece of equipment that looked like a torture device.

He straightened up as they came in and his black curls fell back from his sharp, pale face, his dark eyes bore into hers and his mouth grew into a childish grin. It was Myrnin, Ada was sure of it. And Amelie confirmed it as she spoke. 'Myrnin, I would like you to meet Miss Ada and her Mother. Miss Ada, Myrnin.' she said, gesturing to them both. Myrnin ambled around the table, his long legs taking him to her in three steps. He was wearing smart black trousers, with shined black shoes, a loose white shirt and a dark waistcoat, almost indecent by my mother's standards, but she didn't seem to mind.

Myrnin didn't even seem to notice she was there. He bowed at the waste, took Ada's hand and held it to his lips, igniting the same tingling feeling as the first time he kissed her in London. He rose back up slightly and his dark eyes glimmered from behind his thick eyelashes. 'Hello, Miss Ada. It's a pleasure to meet you.'

He smiled secretively at her, and Ada knew that in that smile was a silent _again_.

**Please read and review! xxx**


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